BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott women's basketball team hosted non-conference opponent MIT on Thursday evening. With a career high 23 points from junior Nicole Catizone (Woburn, Mass.) and 22 points from junior Kelsey Cuddy (Madison, Conn.) the Gulls were lifted to a 69-65 victory of the Engineers in the game's final moments. Endicott improves to 4-4 (1-2 CCC) while the Engineers fall to 4-5 (1-1 NEWMAC).
Endicott will take the court next on Saturday, December 13th as they travel to Salem State for a North Shore Cup matchup. MIT will rest until December 30th where they will travel to Bowdoin for the Bowdoin College Classic.
At the 1:12 mark the game was tied at 65-65 and with just seven seconds remaining on the clock freshman Sam Charette (Wenham, Mass.) scored a layup to give the Blue and Green the final edge for the victory. Senior Kayleen Whall (Foxboro, Mass.) added a couple insurance points from the charity stripe to secure the 69-65 final.
Overall the Engineers just edged the Blue and Green from inside the arc shooting 43% to Endicott's 41%, however the Gulls picked up their long-range percentage shooting over double of MIT at 33%. From the charity stripe the Engineer's led with an impressive 84% with great shooting by senior Mari Kordell (Ijamsville, Md.) who earned 9-of-10 to add to her 20 total points.
The Blue and Green played strong defense this evening as they crashed the boards earning 40 rebounds to MIT's 31 while earning 15 second chance points. With the help of six steals by Cuddy the Gulls were able to convert 18 points off turnovers while MIT only scored seven. Both sides were strong in the paint as Endicott earned 34 points with MIT tallying 28 with help from leading scorer, junior Maya Ramachandran (Fremont, Calif.) who finished with 21 points.
The first half was a battle as both sides went bucket for bucket leaving Endicott with just a three point lead entering halftime. Cuddy led the half with 11 points while reaching for three blocks and one steal. Charette also played strong defense leading with six rebounds and adding two blocks to go with her four points. The Blue and Green struggled to get to the free throw line earning just one trip while the Engineers shot 7-of-8, while five of the seven went to Kordell.
The second half was just as big of a battle as the first with Endicott scoring just one more point than MIT. The Gulls picked up their game in all scoring categories led by an impressive 18 point effort by Catizone. Defensively Cuddy earned five steals while Whall owned the boards with six rebounds, three being offensive. Whall worked for second chance point and put-backs as she earned two trips to the line in her 13 minutes and scoring a perfect 4-of-4.
For the Engineers, again Kordell worked the charity stripe going perfect in her four attempts while Ramachandran who led the half with 17 points scored 5-of-7. Ramachandran was solid on the defensive end earning six total rebounds while adding three blocks and one steal.
Endicott and MIT were neck and neck in the final minutes of the game but the Blue and Green held strong and played a solid defensive game that helped secure the 69-65 victory in the final seconds.
